SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Nearly a week after a massive power outage plunged parts of San Francisco’s west side into darkness, many residents in the Sunset and Richmond Districts say they’re still struggling to recover, especially seniors, immigrants, and small business owners who were preparing for important winter holidays.
By Friday morning, the Sunset District looked busy and back to normal, but community leaders say what happened the weekend prior has left many frustrated and feeling hopeless.
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“We have a lot of seniors who live here in the Sunset District. When the power went out, they were really struggling,” said David Lee, who lives in the neighborhood and is the Executive Director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee. “A lot of them are isolated, many don’t speak English, and they didn’t know where to turn.”
Over in the Richmond District, Myron Lee says his family went nearly 50 hours without power.
“Dad, you know, he needs machines to clear his airways when he sleeps, so he wasn’t sleeping in the night,” Lee said. “Really stressful for everyone involved.”
Lee says neighbors wanted to check on one another, but security gates commonly installed in front of homes in the Sunset and Richmond made it difficult to knock on doors and without power, they couldn’t ring the doorbells. At the same time, he says spotty cell service made communication and access to information even harder.
“I think a lot of monolingual Chinese in this area, no information expressed to them,” he said, explaining that while he was able to eventually find resources at the Richmond Rec Center, many others never heard about the help that was available.
Lee shared photos of his parents’ refrigerator, filled with food that had to be thrown out after days without power. For many families, the timing made the loss especially painful.
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The outage hit just as Chinese families and Asian-owned businesses were preparing for Dongzhi, or the Winter Solstice, a holiday that celebrates the arrival of winter, often with large family meals and special dishes.
“It was a total loss for the business owners,” Lee said. “Their supplies, their food, completely stocked up with seafood and everything they needed for a busy winter solstice, which is why the Chinese community really saved up and planned for this special weekend.”
Community advocates say many small, family-run businesses in the area had invested heavily in inventory for the holiday, only to see it spoil.
PG&E is offering $200 bill credits to residents impacted by the outage and up to $2,500 for businesses that lost inventory or revenue. But many in the community say that doesn’t come close to covering their losses.
“Let’s start by increasing the credit that people are getting because $200 doesn’t cut it,” Lee said. “And let’s make sure businesses get the recovery they need.”
In a statement to ABC7 News on Friday, PG&E said customers can pursue a separate claims process for other compensation.
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Lee worries many in the elderly, immigrant Chinese community will not know how to fill out the forms for such a process. He also feels the city of San Francisco should have a list of the most vulnerable residents, where city workers can check up on them and provide services in these sorts of emergencies.
“I hope the city is preparing for the next blackout,” said Lee.
According to PG&E, as of Friday, the Mission Substation, where the issue first began, is now safe and stable. There are several generators onsite at substations to provide temporary power for customers still impacted by the outage on Saturday.
“These units were put into service on Monday morning, and will be turned off as soon as repairs are complete,” said Tamar Sarkissian, a spokesperson with the utility company. “We are working on a case-by-case basis to support customers that live within close proximity to the generators.”
Sarkissian adds that PG&E representatives were at the Richmond Center on Wednesday, answering questions in Chinese, and that there will be additional outreach in Chinese.
There are dedicated Chinese and Spanish customer service lines.
For Chinese: 1-800-893-9555
For Spanish: 1-800-660-6789
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